Penny Jackson and the Olympians: Kronos' Gambit
by emjalen
Summary: When Penny answers a distress call from Grover with Annabeth and Thaddeus, son of Zeus, disaster strikes. Grover has found two unclaimed half-bloods, but the demigods fall into a trap and Annabeth is kidnapped. Denied the opportunity to go on the rescue quest, Penny follows Zoe, Bianca, Grover, and Thaddeus, determined to save Annabeth from Luke. Fem!Percy. Male!Thalia.


_You know what they say- if you want to read something, you may as well write it yourself. _

**Disclaimer: **The _Percy Jackson and the Olympians _series was written by Rick Riordan and published by Disney Hyperion Books, New York. _The Titan's Curse_ was produced in 2007 by the aforementioned parties.Quotes, plot lines, plot lines details, descriptions, and paraphrases also are the property of the aforementioned parties. I own nothing. All tampering with canon text is produced by own imagination for no profit.

**Author: **emjalen/emja

**Title:** Penny Jackson and the Olympians: Kronos' Gambit

**Genres:** Adventure, Drama, and Friendship.

**Warnings/Tags: **Alternate Universe, Male! Thalia, Female! Percy, Asexual! Annabeth, Asexual! Children of Athena, Asexual! Athena, Mild Violence, Character Deaths, Canon books elements: mentioned child abuse, abusive male adult figure, Olympians being crappy parents, violence, kids dying, child soldiers, etc. apply.

**Extended Summary: **When Penny Jackson answers a distress call from her satyr friend Grover Underwood with her best friend Annabeth Chase and Thaddeus, son of Zeus, disaster strikes. Grover has found two powerful, unclaimed half-blood siblings, but the intrepid demigods fall into Kronos' trap- Annabeth is taken captive by a manticore, a monster in liege with Penny's enemy, Luke Castellan.

Something called the _Great Stirring _is upsetting is the ancient balance mythical world…but Penny's friend Grover believes it bring Pan, the ancient god of the wild, back. Meanwhile, a quest is formed to rescue the goddess Artemis and save Annabeth. Denied the opportunity to be a member, Penny leave the safety of Camp-Half Blood to follow after Artemis' lieutenant Zoe Nightshade, Huntress Bianca di Angelo, Grover, and Thaddeus, ready to do whatever it takes to rescue Annabeth from Luke's clutches…

_*Please note: The above information will be provided in the prologue only._

* * *

Being a half-blood complicates things.

Hi. My name is Penelope Jackson, but everyone calls me Penny. Long story short, my mom, Sally Jackson, had a summer affair with the god of the sea, Poseidon- my father. Nine months later, she had me and named me after the only woman in Greek mythology who lived to old age _and_ had a happy ending. Being a demigod, half mortal, half Olympian…well. My father once told me it might have been better if I had never been born.

As I said, being a half-blood is complicated.

Take history class- no longer a boring prerequisite but literally vital to my life. The Trojan War? Becomes _super _important; I'm actually starting to remember the ancient Greek battles, which is kinda scary, 'cause, like all half-bloods, I've got ADHD and dyslexia, so anything with a whole lot reading, like history, isn't something I do well in. There are still alliances during Capture the Flag based on past wars.

Yeah…we do Capture the Flag _seriously _at Camp Half-Blood. With swords and spears. It's _awesome. _The only downside is sometimes you have to watch out for your teammates if your godly parent embarrassed someone else's parent sometime in the last several thousand years. Campers' take their parents reputations _seriously _at Camp Half-Blood. Probably because it's pretty much all we have of them…

Ever since I got blamed for stealing Zeus' master bolt two years ago, my life's been like a bad re-run of an Ancient Greek history drama.

Take last summer for instance: I snuck away from Camp with my best friend, Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, and my new Cyclopes brother Tyson to save another best friend of mine, Grover, a satyr, from getting married to Polyphemus.

Yeah, you heard me right. Polyphemus, the Cyclopes from _the Iliad_ that Odysseus blinded. He still can't see that well, which is why he thought Grover was a lady Cyclopes. He also holds a _major _grudge against Nobody…nobody (pun _not_ intended) said Cyclopes were the smarted.

With Clarisse, the Camp bully- and naturally, a daughter of Ares, who also hates me 'cause I made her dad bleed as sixth grader- we rescued the Golden Fleece to save a pine tree and ran into my enemy, Luke Castellan.

Oh, yeah.

_And_, you want to know why we needed to risk our lives to save a pine tree. Long story short, that pine tree holds the life force of Thaddeus, son of Zeus. Six years ago, Thaddeus, Luke, Annabeth, and Grover were on the run from all the monsters Hades could send after them from the pits of the Underworld. Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus don't really get along, and tend to take it out on each other's kids. It sucks. It's also why I can't ever fly on a plane unless I get special permission from the Lord of the Sky or I want to be blasted out of the air by a big lighting strike.

Anyways, they were all nearly safe at camp, when they got cornered. Thaddeus held off the monsters long enough for the other three to get to safety; he also died at age twelve. To honor his sacrifice, Zeus turned him into tree, because…I have no idea. Olympians are weird. The point is, Thaddeus' pine tree became the center point for the magical boundaries protecting Camp Half-Blood against all intruders, mortal and mythical, making it the only safe place in the entire world for demigods.

So I came back to camp last summer and found that _someone _had snuck Luke into the camp and he poisoned his old friend's tree. 'Cause he's that kind of a jerk.

Luke's a bad guy. He's a son of Hermes, but he's turned against Olympus, the driving force of Western Civilization, and is trying to bring it down and to resurrect Titan rule. Last summer, we found out that he was trying to resurrect Kronos, King of the Titans with the Golden Fleece. That plan failed, but I _know_ that Luke has another scheme going. He's just evil like that.

Luke is raising an army of monsters against Olympus, but that's not the scary part. He also is getting half-bloods on his side, some of them in the Camp. They're angry, angry at the gods for ignoring them, for abandoning them, and sometimes…sometimes I feel their anger. My dad left my mom and me with no protection and an abusive jerk, Smelly Gabe, for most of my life without a single child support check. But I would never turn against Olympus. Never.

Worst of all…worst of all was what the Golden Fleece did.

It healed Thaddeus' pine tree all right- healed it so well that it undid Zeus' magic and released Thaddeus' healed body, no longer frozen in time, back into the world.

Then there's the Great Prophecy.

Chiron and Annabeth know, but refuse to tell me. I managed to get Annabeth to tell me a little about it last summer: basically, a child of the one of the Big Three (what we call Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, the three oldest male gods) is either going to save or bring down Olympus when they're sixteen years old.

I'm thirteen years old now, and before Thaddeus was de-pineified, I was the only child of the Big Three hanging around. Now, Kronos has another chance to control the prophecy…through Thaddeus.

So right now, the mythical world is preparing for a civil war that'll be fought by demi-god teenagers and monsters, with two wild cards that could determine which side wins…and which side loses. Things are pretty tense at Camp Half-Blood right now; I'm just glad the campers don't know about the prophecy…at least the ones on our side.

As for Thaddeus?

I knew the relationship between a daughter of Poseidon and a son of Zeus was bound to difficult, but _wow_, is it ever!

Annabeth once said we would either be best friends or worst enemies. I dunno about that, but most of the time, I'm torn between wanting to punch the smirk off his face, or we're so sync, it's scary. The second doesn't happen a lot. Actually, it hasn't happened more than twice. Most of the time, he winds me up like no one does but Ares. He's just so…urgh!

Thaddeus is one of the most skilled fighters I've ever seen, and sometimes being around him is like sticking your hand in a jar of bottled lighting. He's our most experienced camper now that Luke is gone, but the son of Zeus is also the most arrogant jerk I've ever met; and I live in Manhattan. He's contradictions wrapped up in a swagger and he _always _has to be in charge.

My dad once told me something about the sea- that it doesn't like to be restrained. I didn't think I had a problem with _not _being a leader until Thaddeus healed.

We drive each other nuts, but we try to get along for Annabeth's sake. Sometimes, I'm really jealous that he has all this past history with her when I only have two years and near-death experiences and I'm pretty sure he's jealous of me for being her best friend- at least, that's what my mom says, and based on the death glares he gives me (which are _scary_) I think she's right.

I know we're going to have to learn to get along and stop sniping at each other, but he makes it so hard!

Ugh.

_Boys_.

I just hope we can get along; what we're doing next is more important than Capture the Flag.

Today, I'm going to travel to Bar Harbor, Maine, wherever _that _is. Satyrs work for Mr. D (Dionysus), the Camp Director, as protectors and guides for half-bloods. They go to mortal schools, find them, and try to guide them to Camp and not get anyone killed. Earlier, Grover sent a distress call from the military school he's currently under disguise at, Westover Hall, for help. Chiron's sending me, Annabeth, and Thaddeus to help him.

There aren't a lot of reasons for a satyr to send out a distress call, but when they do, a demigod is _always _in danger. I just hope we can get there in time to make sure nobody gets hurt…


End file.
